P&F Industries 9: Love, Science, and NASCAR
by EDD17SP
Summary: A direct continuation of #8: Molecular "Fusion." Old plot lines will be resolved and new ones will begin. The gang's quest to raise stem cell research money continues, via the world of stock car racing.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb or any of the songs used. Do not attempt any of the driving described here at home. There is no guarantee it will work the way I wrote it and you'll probably get arrested.**

**This story is part of the "P&F Industries" series. I don't feel like listing them all again, so just read the rest of my stories that are numbered before you read this one. Okay? Okay.**

**IMPORTANT: This story is a direct continuation of ****_P&F Industries #8: Molecular "Fusion," _****picking up right where that story left off. If you haven't read that story first, this story isn't going to make any sense. Actually, ****_P&F Industries #8: Molecular "Fusion," _****won't make any sense, either, unless you read the whole series. Start with ****_#1: The Mustang_**** and come back when you've read them all.**

Chapter 1

_"Wow! What a finish!"_

_"That's gotta be one of the closest finishes I've ever seen!"_

* * *

"I think we should have made someone who can actually speak look at the scoreboard," Katie said, "as opposed to Perry."

Perry still had his eyes locked on the scoring tower, unable to turn away. The rest of the gang still refused to look at the digital leader board to see if Phineas had won or not.

"Agreed," Gretchen replied. "You do it, Steve."

"Why do I have to do it?"

"'Cause you're the crew chief."

"Alright, how about this: We all look at the same time."

The crew muttered quietly to themselves.

"On the count of three," Vanessa said. "One…"

"Two…" Ferb put in.

"Three," they finished together.

All eight of them turned to face the scoring tower. It read:

**Lap 75**

**1 - 15**

**2 - 28**

* * *

_"By just one one-thousandth of a second over Phineas Flynn, John Wes Townley has won the Menards 250!"_

"Damn it, Townley!" Isabella yelled.

**Bet that threw you all for a loop.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_"Candace…did I win?"_

Candace bit her lip. She almost couldn't bear to tell him. "No, Phineas." She glanced at the big LCD screen in the infield, already playing a slow motion replay of the finish. "And looking at the jumbotron…you lost by about four inches, if that much."

There was silence on the other end of the radio. Candace sighed and took off her headset. "Damn."

She headed down the stairs and began her trek back to the infield.

* * *

With so many cars still immobile on the track from the huge last-lap wreck, the garage area seemed empty. Phineas was able to drive off the track to where Steve's truck and trailer were parked very quickly. He aligned the Fusion race car with the back of the trailer and stopped.

Phineas flicked off the engine. He lifted the catch on the back of the steering wheel, releasing it from the steering column, and tossed the wheel up on the dash board. He disconnected his HANS devise from the seat and unplugged his radio chord before dropping the window net and climbing out of the car.

As Phineas removed his helmet, the rest of the number 28 crew arrived to help pack up the car and equipment, with Gretchen, Katie, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz pulling the war wagon behind them. As Holly and Milly dropped the door on the back of the trailer, Ferb and Steve approached Phineas.

The driver hung his head low. "I'm sorry, guys. I failed."

With as much spirit as he could muster to bring up Phineas's mood, Steve said, "Well, you know what they say…"

Phineas hesitantly looked up at him.

Steve shrugged. "That's racin.'"

Within seconds, a man with a TV camera and one of the pit reporters approached Phineas, wanting to interview the second place driver.

"We're going to interview you in just a moment, Mr. Flynn," the pit reporter said.

Phineas didn't look thrilled, but he also didn't object. He stood next to the reporter, waiting for him to start.

* * *

Isabella almost turned off the TV, but quickly remembered that Phineas would be interviewed. She muted the TV when winner John Wes Townley was interviewed in victory lane. She didn't need to hear what he said. After the interview ended, the graphic showing the unofficial race results popped up. She turned the volume back on and listened to the announcers drone on about the finishing order.

_"Now let's go to Bob, who is standing by with second place finisher, Phineas Flynn."_

Isabella turned up the volume a little louder. Phineas appeared on the screen, standing right next to his race car in the garage area with the reporter, Bob.

_"Thanks, Rick. I'm here with Phineas Flynn."_ He turned away from the camera and faced Phineas. _"Phineas, you were one of the drivers eligible for the half a million dollar first-time-starter prize today. How heartbreaking is it to be that close to victory lane, but to lose by just a few inched?"_

He held the microphone forward so Phineas could speak into it.

* * *

Candace arrived back in the garage just in time to hear Phineas's interview begin. She stood in front of the race car, just off camera, listening.

* * *

_"Really? That's the question you're going to ask?" _Phineas replied to the reporter. Isabella could detect obvious annoyance in his voice, even through the TV. _"Of course it's a heartbreak! I just lost out on half a million dollars by a couple inches! I was getting a huge push from the cars behind me, and that wreck took away all the air off my bumper and killed my momentum! I would have had it!"_

Bob the reporter moved the microphone away from Phineas's face, ready to close the interview with the obviously distressed driver, but Phineas quickly grabbed hold of the mic and pulled it back to his chin.

_"And it's not just a heartbreak for me,"_ he continued, his tone slowly rising to a shout. _"My crew worked so hard preparing for this race, and we're all upset that we didn't win because we were running this race for our friends back home. They're the ones we were trying to win the money for!"_

* * *

Candace could hear Phineas's voice crack from those few yards away that she stood. He wasn't really thinking about what he was saying, and she was afraid that, if he wasn't stopped, he might say something stupid. Like, he could curse on live TV. Or he could break down in tears.

She quickly stepped forward and grabbed the mic from Bob's hand, and pushed Phineas away. With Phineas looking like he wanted to scream at the camera and punch her in the gut, she looked directly into the camera and, in a pleading tone, slowly began to speak.

"Our entire race team is made up of all family and friends, all from Danville, Ohio," she began.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Bob asked.

"Candace Flynn. Phineas's sister and spotter."

Bob wasn't quite sure what to do. He'd never had an interview hi-jacked before. But, he reluctantly backed off.

Candace continued. "And we have a lot more friends back home in Danville. But a few months ago, we were all in a terrible accident. Without going into detail, all of our friends who couldn't be with us today are absent because they sustained such terrible injuries. My best friend has to have her entire chest reconstructed with plastic surgery, and my fiancé is missing an arm and a leg. Many of our friends had limbs…amputated.

"But my brothers, Phineas here-" she gestured to her brother, "-and our front tire changer, Ferb…they're geniuses. And so is our pit coach's father. They can figure out how to regrow the body parts that were lost, and if they can do it for our friends, they can do it for army vets, and first responders, and anyone else who had to have limbs amputated.

"But they need money to crack the genetic codes and learn how to perform the difficult task of regrowing body parts artificially. We are all broke. The race car and all the equipment came from our crew chief, Steve, not us. My brothers can figure this out, I know they can. But they need money to research it."

* * *

Isabella turned up the TV even louder, listening to Candace's speech. She suddenly felt a great rush of affection for her friend whom she was certain would be her sister-in-law someday.

_"Please," _Candace begged stepping a little closer to the camera, _"find it in the kindness of your hearts to go to PhineasandFerb dot com and donate to help my brothers, so they can help our friends and the world."_

* * *

Steve had just walked over to prepare the car to be loaded up, and heard the end of Candace's speech. He edged his way between the race car and Bob the reporter, and when Candace finished her last sentence, he grabbed the mic from her and pushed his way in front of the camera.

"I know ARCA isn't part of NASCAR, but I know how closely connected the two are. The last couple of years, they've been using the 'NASCAR Unites' slogan for the races between Memorial Day and July Fourth. So, come on, NASCAR! Unite! Help these guys out!"

* * *

The camera man backed away and Steve sheepishly handed the microphone back to Bob. Then he, Candace, and Phineas, quickly retreated from the area. The camera tracked their path until they disappeared behind the race car trailer.

_"Well," _Bob's voice came from off-screen, _"That was…something else. I believe Danielle is standing by with our point leader, Frank Kimmel."_

The last thing Isabella saw of her friends' team on the TV coverage was a close up of the web address for Phineas and Ferb's website on the rear deck-lid of the race car. She watched until the broadcast ended, then flicked off the TV and laid back on her hospital bed, mentally cursing John Wes Townley.

* * *

Phineas grabbed his clothes from where he had left them inside the trailer and found the restroom to change out of his fire suit. When he had closed and locked the bathroom door behind him, he leaned against the door and let his legs collapse under him. He couldn't stand any longer.

He unzipped his fire suit and then leaned his forehead into his knees. He started to cry.

Phineas was not a sore loser. He wouldn't have cared that they had lost if competing in the race had just been another one of his and Ferb's ideas for an exciting day. But with so much at stake, so much riding on ending that day in victory lane…the health and well-being of his closest friends…and the girl he loved…

The only thing on Phineas's mind was that he had failed. Again.

* * *

Katie sat in the car and steered while Steve, Ferb, Vanessa, and Perry pushed the Ford Fusion race car up the little ramp into the box trailer. When Katie had climbed out the car window and vacated the trailer, Gretchen, Holly, Milly, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz rolled the war wagon in behind it, sideways, across the back of the trailer. There was just enough room to close and secure the door of the jam-packed trailer.

"So…now what?" Dr. Doofenshmirtz asked no one in particular.

Everyone looked at Steve, expecting him to give them direction. Before Steve could even open his mouth, Phineas, changed back into his shorts and t-shirt, walked up next to the crew chief.

All eyes were on Phineas. They could tell he had been crying. "Now?" Phineas said quietly. He shrugged. "Now, we go home."

* * *

The drive home seemed even longer than the ride down, especially to Steve, with whom Phineas and Ferb rode home. Ferb doesn't talk much to begin with, and Phineas just leaned against the window, sulking quietly. In addition to the incredible silence in the cab of the old Ford truck, the lock on the ball hitch on the trailer broke somewhere in Tennessee. With the trailer riding just on the safety chains, Steve had to make an emergency stop on the shoulder and fix the hitch with just what was available in the race car trailer. The entire convoy had to stop while repairs were made.

Aside from that, they stopped only once, at a truck stop to have dinner. Otherwise, they drove straight through from Alabama to Danville, finally arriving back at Steve's garage at three fifteen in the morning. Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Vanessa went home, but the others were so exhausted that they passed out on the floor and in chairs in Steve's little attached apartment.

**NASCAR Unites! That's just fun to say.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ferb was the first awake. He was just so used to getting up at seven o'clock that he simply could not stay asleep past seven-fifteen, regardless of how tired he was. He rose from his spot in the corner between the couch and the wall and looked around the room. Of course, no one else was awake.

Suddenly remembering something, he crept across the room, stepping over his sister and the former fireside girls to reach Steve's computer. Steve was currently asleep in his desk chair, so Ferb just rolled him out of the way and crouched down to see the computer screen. He had to evict Perry from where the platypus had dozed off on the keyboard, sliding him gently to the side. Perry shifted uncomfortably, but did not awaken.

He went to the website that he and Phineas maintained and logged on, searching for the page that would show how much money had been donated on the site.

"Whoa."

* * *

"Ugh. What day is it?" Holly groaned as she lifted her head off the floor.

"'What month' might be a better question," Candace replied. "Ow. My neck is killing me."

"That's what happens when your extremely long neck is bent against the floor for the whole night," Holly replied.

Steve awoke with a start as Candace tapped his shoulder. "Huh? What? I'm awake!"

Candace laughed half-heartedly. "Don't have a heart attack, Steve." Ferb came in from the other room. "Good morning, Ferb," Candace said.

Ferb gave a half wave, but headed across the room with purpose.

Phineas was the only one still asleep, on the couch. Ferb pulled the couch cushions, sliding them and Phineas onto the floor. Phineas roughly awoke. "Oof! What was that for?"

Ferb hauled Phineas up by the back of his shirt collar and dragged him over to the computer, dropping him to his knees behind the desk.

"What is up with you this morning?" Phineas asked. Ferb didn't respond. He just pointed to the computer screen.

Phineas's eyes widened. "Wow." He scanned the screen up and down. "Just…wow."

Steve rolled his chair over and the girls gathered around behind them. Perry looked from where he sat on the desk.

"Holy crap," Steve said, still half asleep. The screen showed the list of those who had donated on the site and the amounts they had given. Ferb had it scrolled all the way to the bottom, showing that 48,374 people had donated a total of $73,576. "Now that's what I call NASCAR uniting."

Gretchen whistled appreciatively. "That's not bad for twelve hours worth of donations."

"And you can add to that your winnings for finishing second, too," Steve reminded them. "You won $16,738 dollars for second place…I never will understand why they don't just round all the prizes to the nearest hundred bucks. "

"That gives you upwards of ninety grand," Gretchen calculated in her head. "Not anywhere near enough to buy…what was it you said you needed?"

"A hydraulic sheering machine," Phineas said.

"Yeah, that. But it's still a start."

"You can at the very least replace all that glassware Dr. Doofenshmirtz broke," Candace offered.

Phineas suddenly perked up. "Hey! With that much, I'll bet Ferb and I could build our own hydraulic sheering machine!"

"Didn't you already try that?"

"Yeah, but just using what Dr. D had on hand, which wasn't much considering Perry destroys most of his inventions. But I'll bet we could at least buy the parts we need to build one for real!" Phineas sprang up from the floor, his usual smile finally returning to his face. "Come on, Ferb! Let's go get Dr. D! We have work to do!"

With that, Phineas practically dragged Ferb out the door. The others watched them leave.

"That was rather abrupt," Steve stated.

Candace smiled. "I think all Phineas needed was a little glimmer of hope to get him started again."

They could hear the Chevelle start up outside (Phineas and Ferb had left it at Steve's garage while they were in Alabama) and drive away.

"I just hate to think how Phineas is going to feel when they burn through that ninety grand," Candace said with a sigh.

Steve scrolled up the list of donors slowly. Most of the names he didn't know because they were just random people, but mixed in with those… "Wow, look at some of these people who donated: Trevor Bayne, Chad Knaus, Kasey Kahne, Darrel Waltrip, Carl Edwards…" He let out a small laugh. "Ha. Even Shawn Ward."

"I recognized everyone in that list except for Shawn Ward," Candace said, raising an eyebrow.

"Formerly Matt Kenseth's gas man. I think he's Carl Edwards's now. Here's Larry McReynolds, Ricky Rudd, Richard Childress, Marcos Ambrose, Austin Dillion, Roger Penske, Steve Letarte, Jamie McMurray, Sam Hornish Jr., my buddy Mr. Kenseth…"

Steve minimized the window, planning on scanning the list for more NASCAR names later. "Well, I think we can still do more to help Phineas and Ferb ourselves."

"What do you propose?" Milly asked. She received several strange looks from her friends, who were not used to hearing her speak in such a manner.

Steve clicked a few more times before responding. He turned the computer monitor so everyone could see it. He had pulled up the ARCA Racing Series schedule. "We keep racing. Without Phineas and Ferb. It is my car, after all, I'd kinda like to drive it. I mean, the ARCA Series doesn't pay as much as Cup, or Nationwide, or even Truck, but every little bit helps. Plus, we can keep the advertisement for their website out there. Maybe we'll manage to solicit more donations."

There was silence for a few moments while everybody considered it.

"Well, we are going to be on vacation in a couple weeks…" Katie said.

"And with Phineas and Ferb working on their research, there won't be much going on," Gretchen added.

"Spotting was kinda fun," Candace put in.

"Ngrgrgrgrgrgr."

They thought about it a bit more.

"The races are spaced apart quite a bit, and aside from some pit practice to keep your game up, we won't have to constantly be at the race track to practice," Steve offered.

There was a few more moments of tense silence.

"Okay, I'm in," Candace said with a grin.

"Me too!" Gretchen agreed. So did the other girls.

"Ngrgrgrgr." Perry gave a thumbs up.

Steve smiled. "Alright!"

"Only one problem," Candace said. "We don't have a whole team without Phineas and Ferb."

"Well, I'd sure like to have you as my crew chief, Candace. It'll be much easier to replace a spotter than a crew chief."

"I'll bet Vanessa could replace Ferb as the front tire changer," Katie suggested.

"Probably. And I suppose Dr. D could be a spotter."

Steve stood up and made like he was heading out of the apartment. "Where are you going?" Holly asked.

"To rebuild the engine and replace the suspension. There's a lot to be done to that car before it's ready to race again."

The rest of the group looked at each other and smiled.

"Come on, gang!" Candace exclaimed. "Let's get to work!"

"Yeah!"

Perry hopped down from the desk and he and the girls followed Steve outside to unload the Ford Fusion race car from the trailer.

**I can already tell you, this story is going to be WAY shorter than Molecular Fusion. Don't worry, I'm not going to recount entire races anymore. Too complicated. Just little bits and pieces. Plus, too much OC if I did that. Wouldn't want people to get bored with my OC getting all the focus.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Phineas, Ferb and Dr. Doofenshmirtz entered Doof's penthouse apartment carrying several large boxes.

"Oof," Doof groaned as he set his boxes down. He wiped his brow and collapsed into a chair. "I gotta take a break."

"No time for breaks, Dr. D!" Phineas cried as he set down his own boxes and quickly began ripping them open. "We've got a hydraulic sheering machine to build!"

Doofenshmirtz stood up. "No, see, it's got to be a hydraulic sheer_inator_."

"What? Who cares what it's called?" Phineas lifted a large hydraulic cylinder from the box.

"I do!" Doof said indignantly. "If it's built in this lab, by me, then it must be an inator!"

"Fine. Whatever. Just help us."

Doofenshmirtz completely forgot about his lack of energy and immediately started informing Phineas and Ferb what they were doing wrong. The boys ignored him, but were glad for the extra help.

Several hours later, a large machine looking like a cross between an oversized band saw with no blade and a microscope with no eyepiece stood in the middle of Doof's lab.

"I think we're done," Phineas announced.

"Great," Doofenshmirtz sighed. "Now can we take a break?"

"Now we need to get this thing to our backyard."

Doof groaned. "Awww. That thing is so big and it weighs a ton! Why can't we just use it here?"

"Because we do everything in our backyard."

Doofenshmirtz frowned. "Everything changes eventually."

"Not us."

Neither of them noticed Ferb throwing together some parts that were lying around the lab. He appeared next to them a second later, holding an orb shaped device.

"What do you want? You're interrupting our argument." Doof told him.

Ferb motioned for them to stand up and follow him. They did, hesitantly. They gathered around the hydraulic sheerinator and Ferb pressed the only button blemishing the smooth surface of the orb. There was a quick flash of light, and the next thing they knew, the three of them and the sheerinator were in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard.

"Huh." Phineas said. "Well, that was easy." Without another word, he quickly began setting up their outdoor lab again. "Come on, guys! We've got science to do!"

Ferb and Doofenshmirtz looked at each other. Ferb shrugged. Without a word, they helped Phineas set up the tables, incubators, microscopes and other various equipment the way it had been a few months ago.

"Let the research begin!" Phineas called.

* * *

**Monotreme Motorsports Statistics**

_**May 1**__**st **_**: Talladega Superspeedway - ****Phineas Flynn**** - 2****nd**

_**May 17**__**th **_**: Toledo Speedway - ****Steve Marcis**** - 11****th**

_**May 30**__**th **_**: Elko Speedway - ****Steve Marcis****-14****th**

_**June 6**__**th **_**: Pocono Raceway - ****Steve Marcis**** - 8****th**

_**June 12**__**th**_**: Michigan International Speedway - ****Steve Marcis**** - ?**

* * *

_Several weeks later…_

_Specifically June 11, 2015_

"Now this is my kind of racetrack," Steve said as he and his crew unpacked. "Wide, high-banked, supersonic speeds, large pit boxes…I wish every track was like this." He scanned the long, curved front stretch, inhaling deeply. "Love this place."

Candace pulled the tarp off the war wagon and Gretchen and Katie folded it. She turned to Dr. Doofenshmirtz. "Thanks for putting a hold on helping Phineas and Ferb for a few days to help us out again."

"Ah, don't mention it," Doof replied with a wave of his hand. "I need to get away from those two every once and a while. I get sick of being with them all day, every day for weeks on end, especially the way Phineas tends to boss me around. Him and I tend to argue a lot. It's nice to take a break from the science and focus on something that requires a lot less brain power for a change."

"I've gotta say, listening to you on the radio, you picked up the basics of spotting pretty fast."

"Well, I did have a good teacher," Doofenshmirtz replied with a smile.

"Oh, Heinz," Candace said with a little blush and a smile.

Steve strolled up to them. "Alright, Candace. Let's go."

"Right behind you."

Candace walked with Steve around the garage to where Steve's truck and trailer were parked. The back of the trailer had been left open when they had unpacked the pit equipment. Steve and Candace entered, one on each side of the race car. They carefully rolled the car backwards out of the trailer.

"It's beautiful," Candace whispered. The freshly repainted red-and-green Ford Fusion late model sparkled in the late morning sun.

"You know, it just makes me feel so good inside when people get a sense of wonder from a car, especially a race car," Steve chuckled. "And especially from you. You're about the last person I thought would enjoy the whole 'race team' thing."

"Well, I think more people would enjoy stock car racing if they'd just give it a chance. I doubt most people realize how much goes into making a car good enough to win. But, like I told you before, Jeremy got me into it. You know, as a casual fan. Now that I actually am part of it…I almost can't imagine ever going back to just being regular ol' Candace Flynn. I love being a crew chief!"

Steve smiled broadly. "I'm glad."

Candace walked around to the front of the car and yanked out the hood pins. She raised the hood. "Now, what are we lookin' at here?"

Steve joined her. "Well, I think this is our best shot at a win since Phineas ran 'Dega. We got a little bit stiffer suspension, slightly different aero package for max down force, and I rebuilt the engine after Pocono…I think, if I did my tests right, I managed to squeeze an extra half a dozen horsepower out of the engine." He turned his eyes skyward. "Thanks for your lessons, Uncle Boyd." He now turned to Candace. "Those things, combined with a track that you and I are both semi-familiar with from watching NASCAR on TV, a driving style that I am the really comfortable with and a lightning fast pit crew that could easily compete with Cup Series pit crews, I think we've got a shot to at least _contend_ for the win."

Candace put a hand on her chin. "Let's not go too overboard or be overly optimistic. There's still a lot that could happen tomorrow. But, I think we'll definitely be in contention for a top five, and if all goes well…maybe the 'W' which we have yet to add to our score sheet."

"Well, we're ready, willing, and able. Let's git 'r done!"

They rolled the car around the garage and pushed it into their stall. When the tools and the rest of the team finally joined them, they set to work setting up the car, adjusting the camber, shocks, springs, sway bars, weight balance, brake bias, trackbar and wedge for practice.

* * *

_June 12, 2015_

_"Take a look at this,"_ Rick said as the graphic appeared at the bottom of the screen. _"These are the stats for Monotreme Motorsports for all the races they've started so far. Now, they made their first start at Talladega with Phineas Flynn behind the wheel, finishing second, and then Steve Marcis jumped in that car for the last three races. No finishes lower than fourteenth."_

_"For a brand new team with no prior experience, that is very impressive."_

_"Right now, Marcis runs in the nineth position, hunting another top ten._"

There was a knock at the door. Isabella looked up from the paper she was scribbling on and looked to the doorway. "Phineas!" she cried happily.

Phineas grinned and entered the hospital room. "I saw the doctor on the way in here. He said that in the next few days or so you can finally go home."

"I know. He told me this morning." She returned the grin. "I can't wait."

Phineas leaned over the side of the bed and gave Isabella a kiss. No matter how many times he felt her lips against his, the feeling was still just as strong and just as special. "I love you, Isabella."

"And the feeling is reciprocated."

Phineas raised an eyebrow at her unorthodox way of saying "I love you, too." "Okay…" His eyes scanned the paper that Isabella had been scribbling on. "What are you doing?"

Isabella looked up at the TV screen. "Taking notes."

Phineas followed her gaze. "Racing notes?"

"Mm-hm."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's…oh, hold on a sec."

She turned up the volume two clicks and grabbed her pen. The TV screen showed the number 28 Ford slowly driving down pit road toward its designated pit stall. Phineas and Isabella could easily identify their friends and Perry as they jumped over the pit wall and serviced their car.

_"Steve Marcis telling crew chief Candace Flynn this car is almost perfect. It really rolls through the center well, but a little tight on exit. They're gonna go half a round up on the trackbar to try and loosen this car up on exit."_

Four tires installed and the gas tank full, the car peeled out of the pit box, spewing smoke from the rear tires. _"And a great pit stop! Twelve point three seconds!"_

"Yes! Good job, guys!" she said quietly, even though the people she was addressing were a couple hundred miles away. She scribbled down _Lap 54: 4TandF - 12.3 good rotation, tight exit- .5 down TB. _She turned the TV volume back down.

Phineas gave a half smirk. "You've really gotten into this, huh?"

"Yes. Yes I have. It's easy to be interested when some of your closest friends are competing."

"Mind if I join you?"

"I would love nothing more." She slid over a little and Phineas hopped up on the bed with her. He put out his right arm and she leaned back into it. He pulled her over close and leaned his head on her shoulder.

Phineas sighed. "I can't wait until Ferb and I figure this genetics thing out. We're really getting close."

"I was actually going to ask about that. How come you're not working today?"

"Well, this morning, Ferb and I tried our third attempt at growing an actual limb. Buford's DNA. We have to let it incubate a while and there really isn't much we can do until it's done growing and we can analyze it. So, I figured I'd come hang out with you for a while."

"Well, I'm glad you're at least taking a break. You don't want to overwork yourself."

"Yeah." Phineas nuzzled her cheek a little. Then they both turned their attention back to the TV.

* * *

_Lap 86_

"Yellow is out, Steve. Caution for debris," Dr. Doofenshmirtz said. _"Slow up. Slow up."_

"Dr. D, I keep telling ya, the term is 'check up.'"

_"Yeah, but that always make me think I'm a dentist or an optometrist or something. Like 'There are cars wrecking ahead of you, so analyze your general health.' I find it confusing to myself and-"_

"Nix the excessive chatter, Heinz," Candace barked.

_"Sorry, Candace."_

Meanwhile, the pace car picked up the leader, Ryan Blaney, at 45mph and the field fell in line behind his number 22 Dodge. Steve ran seventh. As the field passed by pit road for the second time, Candace scanned up and down at the other teams. A good majority of the other thirty-two pit crews were up on the pit wall, air wrenches, jacks, and Goodyear tires in hand, save four or five teams. Candace took note that Ryan Blaney's crew was the only team currently in front of Steve that was not prepared to pit. All the teams directly behind Steve were ready. The first car behind the 28 staying out looked like Grant Enfinger in sixteenth place.

"Hmm…"

"Candace?" Vanessa called up, "Should we be getting ready to pit?"

Candace thought hard for a moment longer. She thought back to the last time they had been on pit road, specifically about the condition of the tires. "No," she said simply. She then relayed her decision to Steve.

* * *

_Lap 88_

_"Pit road is open, and here they come!"_

_"Ryan Blaney stays out! So does Steve Marcis!"_

"What are they doing?" Isabella exclaimed, gesturing at the TV. "The guys behind them on fresh tires are gonna blow past Steve like he's got a boat anchor in the trunk!"

"I have no idea," Phineas said. "You're the one who's been paying really close attention to this the last three races, not me."

* * *

_"Are you sure about this, Candace?"_

"No, but we're doing it anyway."

_"I feel like I'm gonna be about ten miles per hour slower. Besides, Blaney has led, like, this entire race. There's no way I could contend with him for the win even if I had fresh tires."_

"I don't expect you to contend for the win. We were seventh. I was watching the lap times. You weren't any faster then the cars ahead of you. But, now there are two rows of slower cars from the low teens right behind you, separating you from the cars that were faster than you and have fresh tires. We're gonna restart with only ten to go. There's no way we can win, but we might get fourth or fifth out of a seventh place car, and every spot we gain is more money for Phineas and Ferb."

_"Mmm…I still don't know…"_

"When we changed tires last, the wear was perfect. I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to hold a top five spot with just ten laps left."

_"Alright. If you say so…"_

* * *

Phineas and Isabella sat up. Isabella turned the volume up a few clicks again.

_"There will be ten laps to go when the field takes the green flag. Ryan Blaney has selected the outside for the restart."_

_"Pace car pulls off, Blaney and Marcis lead 'em down…green flag is back in the air!"_

"Go, Steve! Go!" they cheered.

* * *

The former Fireside Girls and Vanessa were doing the same. Perry quickly climbed up on top of the war wagon with Candace for a better view.

"Don't screw up and make a fool out of me," Candace muttered under her breath as the field accelerated toward turn one.

* * *

Ryan Blaney, who of course controlled the restart, got a good jump on Steve when the green flag waved. Steve had expected this, of course, but he still felt rather helpless as he watched the 22 clear him.

He was glad, however, that Blaney had selected the outside for the restart. Steve preferred to run the bottom and his car handled better down there anyway. Roger Carter, who lined up fourth for the restart, followed Blaney and pulled even with Steve as they dove into turn one. Steve fought the wheel to the left as hard as he could and prayed the old tires would stick.

They did, and he was able to clear Carter. By the time turn one became turn two, Steve was carrying too much speed for the tires to hold side bite and he unintentionally slid up the track in front of Carter. Carter forced his car to the bottom as the banking leveled into the backstretch and got a good run off the corner.

_"Inside…and clear, all clear," _Doofenshmirtz announced.

Narrowly avoiding the outside wall, Steve could only watch helplessly as the 97 Dodge flew past into second position.

_"Just take it easy. Don't forget you're on old tires," _Candace reminded him.

"Wait a sec…old tires…duh!"

Instead of diving to the bottom in turn three, Steve held the car near the wall, turning down just enough to stay out of the fence. This way, the tires didn't have so much force on them, since the turning radius was a bit less, and with the lighter turn, Steve could hold more speed, anyway. He got a huge run off of turn four and rocketed back past Roger Carter's 97.

_"Clear!"_

"Now I've got it!"

Candace clapped once. The girls below cheered.

* * *

_Lap 100_

_"White flag for Ryan Blaney!"_

Steve flashed past the flag stand for the second to last time. Justin Boston and Frank Kimmel, two of the cars that had been ahead of him before the last caution and had pitted, had passed him, dropping him to fourth. He hadn't had much fight for them. They had fresh tires, after all, and had been faster than him on equal tires, anyway. But, fourth was still better than seventh.

He skirted the outside wall through turns one and two with no opposition from behind.

* * *

"I was wrong. That was a good call to stay out," Isabella said as she and Phineas watched Blaney exit turn four.

_"Down the front stretch one last time, and in dominating performance, Ryan Blaney wins at Michigan!"_

"I'll say!" Phineas replied, idly stroking Isabella's hair with the arm he had around her. Her soft, dark hair, brutally cut with a butcher's knife in February, or December 1910 depending on how you want to look at it, had finally regrown to within an inch of its original length.

The camera above the start/finish line remained stationary just long enough for the top five cars to cross the line before the cameras switched to track Blaney again. Phineas and Isabella cheered quietly as Steve crossed to finish fourth.

* * *

_"Woo hoo! Fourth! This is nearly as good as a win! Good job everyone! Especially you, Candace! That was a great call! Way to go, guys!"_

* * *

Steve parked on pit road and climbed out, swapping his helmet for his Ford Racing hat, which had been tucked inside the door panel. The top five cars are always inspected immediately after a race, and while the winner's car is in victory lane, finishers two through four are held on pit road and inspected first.

Steve expected that a reporter might want to interview him for the TV broadcast, but he saw none. He was glad. He hated cameras. They made him nervous. He still wasn't sure how he was able to cap off Candace's speech after the Talladega race.

When he joined his crew behind the pit wall, the first thing he did was hi-five every one of them…except Perry. Perry gave him a tail-five. "You guys were awesome in the pits today!" he praised.

"Quickest four-tire stop of any team today, according to the Fox Sports 1 telemetry," Vanessa told him.

Steve smiled. "I love telemetry."

"It's fun just to _say_ 'telemetry,'" Katie said. "Telemetry. Teleme_try_. _Tele_metry. Tel_eme_try." Gretchen, Holly, and Milly glared at her. "What?"

Finally, Steve turned to Candace and gave her a warm hug, followed by an over-enthusiastic hi-five that nearly caused Steve to lose his balance. "Great call, Candace! Even though I'm sure their gonna give it to Ryan Blaney's crew chief, I say you should get the 'Crew Chief of the Race' award."

"Thank you," Candace said with a slight blush. "But I don't think they have that award in ARCA. I think that's a NASCAR thing."

"Oh, shut up."

Everyone laughed. Suddenly, Steve froze, a freaked out look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Vanessa asked.

"I just realized: Our next race is Road America."

His statement was met with blank stares. "I think we need more explanation than that," Gretchen told him.

"Road America. ROAD. It's a road course."

More blank stares.

"It's not an oval."

"Oh…"

* * *

When the broadcast of the race had ended, Isabella flicked off the TV. "I want to be a part of that…someday."

"It was fun racing at Talladega. But I don't think I could do that for a living. Too much of doing the same thing over and over. I'd get bored with it pretty quickly, I think," Phineas added.

He pulled Isabella as close as he could, trying to focus on her face, but his eyes drifted down. He stared at her metal, mechanical arms and the glass ring on a finger of the right one. "Soon," he said, wrapping his fingers around her left "hand." "Soon, I'll be able to hold your hand for real. Your real, flesh and blood hand."

Phineas forced himself to look back up to Isabella's face. Her eyes seemed to shimmer. "Just…" she began, but stopped.

"What?" he coaxed.

Isabella hesitated. "You've been working at this so hard…you hardly come to visit me. You barely came when you were getting ready for your race at Talladega. I miss you. I don't want you to work so hard that I never see you."

Phineas sighed and wrapped his arms around Isabella tightly. "Isabella…I don't want to neglect you. I miss you, too. But I once I figure this out…once you and everyone else have been healed…and you're out of the hospital…we'll never have to be apart again."

He released his hug and moved his hands to her shoulders. "Promise?" Isabella asked when she could see Phineas's face again.

"Promise."

They kissed. They kissed for a long time, locked in a passionate embrace. When they finally broke apart, Phineas looked at his watch.

"I gotta go. The incubator should be almost finished."

Isabella sighed regretfully. "Hurry back?"

Phineas smiled. "Of course. As soon as I can."

They kissed one last time, and Phineas left the hospital.

**The first paragraph of this chapter should have been at the end of the last chapter. When I post chapter 5, I'm going to change it. Hopefully, I'll remember to do so.**

**Look up Road America. Find a track map. It's an intimidating shape. I can't even begin to describe what it looks like. That is why Steve is nervous. I know I wouldn't want to race there.**

**This is going to be my last chapter until Monday because I'm going camping. Sorry for the brief hiatus, but I'm kinda happy for it. Hopefully, when I come back, I'll have more ideas for Phineabella one-shots for "Don't Deny It" and stand-alone stories. Plus, the joints, muscles and tendons in my right wrist and hand could use the rest.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_June 16, 2015_

Phineas, Ferb, and Doofenshmirtz were grouped around Ferb's laptop, scanning the screen, which was linked to the microscope on the table. It showed a 500X view of the slide under the lens.

"There!" Doof cried, pointing to a tiny cluster of cells in the top right hand corner. Ferb zoomed in on it. All three smiled and glanced at each other.

"We did it!" Phineas exclaimed. "Our homemade hydraulic sheer…inator…works!"

"Now we can start trying to grow an actual limb!" Doofenshmirtz added. They hi-fived each other.

Phineas's cell phone rang. The caller ID showed it was Isabella.

"Hey, Isabella!"

_"Hey, Phineas! You sure sound excited about something."_

"I am! We had a major breakthrough!"

_"Great! So, I'm being discharged from the hospital in a few hours. Are you going to escort me home?"_

Phineas's expression drooped. "Oh…Um, I don't think I can. Now that we've made some progress…"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. _"That's okay. I understand." _Isabella sounded distraught.

Phineas sighed. "I'm sorry. But I'll come over and see you as soon as you're home."

_"Okay."_ She didn't exactly sound thrilled. _"See you soon. I love you."_

"I love you too."

Phineas hung up and sighed.

"What's wrong, Phineas?" Dr. Doofenshmirtz asked.

"Isabella's getting out of the hospital today. She wanted me to come pick her up and take her home…but I can't leave now! We finally succeeded in growing human cells. We gotta keep working."

Doofenshmirtz folded his arms and frowned at Phineas. Ferb did the same.

"What?" Phineas asked.

"Go get her, Phineas," Ferb said simply.

"But-"

"Kid," Doof interrupted. "Take it from a guy who got divorced…okay, maybe I'm not the best person to take romantic advice from…but neglecting your girl is the worst thing a guy can do. Okay, well maybe not the worst. I can imagine that pushing them into the Grand Canyon on a bungee cord won't win you any medals…but you get my point."

Phineas still seemed reluctant do leave.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine without you."

Phineas smiled. "Okay. But don't do anything too exciting without me."

Ferb gave him a thumbs up.

Phineas ran into the house and grabbed the keys to Isabella's Plymouth Barracuda, which was parked in her driveway across the street. He crossed the street, climbed into her car, started it, backed out of the driveway, and headed for the hospital.

* * *

Phineas held Isabella up beneath her armpits as they walked slowly into the Garcia-Shapiro house. She was getting the hang of walking with her mechanical left leg, but was still quite shaky. Without any direction to Isabella, Phineas guided her toward the living room and helped her ease onto the couch.

"Thank you, Phineas," Isabella said sweetly. She looked exhausted. Even though she felt like she had regained her former strength while in the hospital, she no longer had much stamina, even for things as simple as walking from the car to her house.

"You're welcome," Phineas replied quietly, still feeling a bit guilty about almost leaving her at the hospital. He glanced toward the front door. "I…should be getting back to work…"

He only made it a half step before Isabella grabbed his arm with her metal hand. Phineas cringed at the touch of the steel. "Phineas…" Isabella sounded like she was begging. "Sit. Please."

Phineas reluctantly sat down on the edge of the couch next to Isabella. "We're never going to make this work if you keep running off," she said.

"I'm sorry. I just…I still blame myself for your injuries. I want to solve this. Fast." She put her hand on his shoulder. He immediately jumped up off the couch. "And stop touching me! Every time I feel that cold, lifeless metal, I get flashbacks of being in that cave where…"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that."

Phineas sighed. "It's not your fault. I should have told you before…" He sat back down. "I won't let myself stop working. I have to figure this out. I have trouble sleeping at night. I have…nightmares…sometimes, not always, but I very rarely get a good night's sleep."

"I didn't know that either."

Phineas turned around. "I'm a little embarrassed to say it…I haven't even told Ferb."

Isabella's brain was telling her to put her hand on Phineas's shoulder, which seemed like the social protocol for the situation, but she resisted the urge. "Phineas…you don't ever have to be embarrassed to tell me anything. There is nothing that you can say that will make me think any less of you."

Phineas didn't answer right away. He was staring out the window. "I know…but I'll think less of me…" His emotions and feelings that he had kept bottled up since the incident in February were beginning to spill out. Afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself if he stayed any longer, he stood up and headed for the front door.

"I'll be back…later."

Isabella didn't stop him. She didn't say anything. She knew she didn't have to.

Sooner or later, he would tell her.

* * *

_June 17, 2015_

The activity at Boyd's Garage was winding down. The race car, tool boxes, and war wagon had all been loaded into the trailer and everyone was loading their personal items into their vehicles, preparing to leave for Wisconsin.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz had told the team the day before that he would be unable to act as Steve's spotter for the Road America race since he and the boys had just had a major breakthrough. It had thrown Steve and Candace into a panic. They were out of friends to call upon to fill the empty slot on the team roster.

It was Perry who came to the rescue. Now that the pack-up was nearly done, Candace, Perry, and Steve stood to the side of the garage, talking with the new spotter.

"Thanks again for helping us out, Carl," Candace said.

Carl flipped his hand. "Don't mention it. Anything for Agent P." This comment was met with somewhat angry glares. "Sorry, force of habit. What I meant was, anything for Perry."

Gretchen poked her head in through the garage door. "Are you guys coming, or what? We've got a race to get to!"

"We're coming," Steve said. He turned to Carl. "You okay with riding with the girls?"

Carl's face lit up. "Girls? Of course!"

Steve rolled his eyes. "Good. I've given Holly a list of instructions to go over with you concerning your roll as spotter."

Carl turned serious, a confident smile showing. "I'll memorize them all inside and out." He tapped his forehead with a finger. "This mind is like a steel trap."

"Good man."

They left the garage, Steve turning off the lights and closing the overhead doors behind them. Carl headed for Katie's van while Steve, Candace and Perry walked over to Steve's truck, which was already hitched to the trailer.

"Steve!" Katie called from her driver's seat. Steve flipped around at the sound of his name. "What CB channel are we on this time?"

"Seventeen, of course!" he shouted back.

Katie rolled her eyes. "I don't know why I even bother asking." She started her van and, after a brief moment, pulled out onto the road, steering for the highway.

Steve, Candace and Perry climbed into the old Ford pickup truck. "Perry, I commend you for your suggestion for a new spotter. Thank you very much."

Perry smiled. "Ngrgrgrgrgr."

Candace said, "I think that means 'No problem,' or 'Don't mention it,' or something to that effect." Perry nodded.

Steve started the engine. "I'll tell you what, if we keep doing this, I'm gonna have to buy a new truck. This trailer gets heavier every week. We're within a thousand pounds of this old girl's towing capacity." He patted the dash board affectionately. "I really don't want to blow the transmission out."

"No, we definitely don't want that. Especially when we're in the middle of no where," Candace replied.

"I don't even have a Triple A membership."

They shared a short laugh as Steve pulled out onto the road. A few minutes later he sighed and inhaled sharply.

"You still nervous about your first road course race?" Candace asked.

"Yeah…It's not that I think I'm going to have a problem negotiating the track…it's that I think I'm going to have a problem negotiating the track with thirty other cars around me. That, and I have absolutely no idea how to set up a car for a road course."

"I know what you mean. It's way easier to set up a car to just turn left."

As Steve merged onto the highway, he huffed again. "Well, we're gonna see what happens…"

**I've finally returned to this story. I have to say, I'm not to thrilled with the way this chapter turned out in relation to the first four, but…whatever. Sorry it's kinda short, but this seemed like an appropriate place for a chapter break. Important stuff happening in the next chapter, as well as a pretty large jump in time. (And sorry, no racing action from Road America.)**

**Also, in the past few days, this has become the most followed story in the P&F Industries series. Total followers: Five. (Celebration noises.)**

**Anyway, review if you get a chance and chapter 6 will be along soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_June 20, 2015_

_"Half a lap and four corners to go!"_

_"Steve Marcis is doing everything he can to reel in Cory Lajoie, but I don't think he's got enough time."_

_"Yeah, he's been faster than Lajoie the last several laps, but he's just too far back to catch him."_

_"Down that long, sweeping straightaway they go, heading for turn 12, the tricky Canada Corner, Lajoie still with a five car length lead over Marcis."_

_"WHOA! Lajoie slides wide in the corner! He's off onto the apron! Here comes Marcis, right up to the back bumper as Lajoie gathers it back up!"_

_"Marcis is right on Lajoie as they wind their way through the esses. Here we go, final corner! Can Marcis get a run?"_

_"Hard to the bottom goes Marcis! Lajoie slips off the corner again! They're gonna be side-by-side! It's a drag race up the hill!_

_"Two Fords, dead-even to the line! Checkered flag, and it's-!"_

* * *

_June 22, 2015_

Phineas, Ferb, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz were asleep at their work stations when Steve, Candace, and Perry entered the backyard.

"Do you think we should let them sleep?" Steve asked.

"Nope." Candace walked over to Phineas and squeezed his nostrils closed with her fingers. Unable to open his mouth to breathe since his chin was resting on the table, Phineas quickly woke up.

"Zzz-huh? Wha?" He looked around. "Oh…" He took a breath. "Hi, Candace. Hi, Perry."

Steve waved to him. "Sup?"

Phineas waved halfheartedly back and then glanced at the kitchen timer on the table beside him. "Not quite time yet." He looked back at Steve and Candace. "So, how'd it go this week?"

Both dropped their smiles. "Really?" Candace said. "You didn't check?"

Phineas shook his head.

"Isabella didn't tell you?"

Phineas shook his head. Something triggered in his mind, and he reached for his cell phone. "Well, would you look at that. Four missed calls, three voicemails and thirteen new text messages."

_"And a partridge in a pair tree," _Candace sang mockingly.

"Guess she had something to be excited about," Phineas said.

"Yeah. We won," Steve said as if it were nothing.

"No way!" Phineas said, perking up a bit. "That's awesome!"

"Yup. Here's your winnings." Steve handed him an envelope, which Phineas promptly tore open.

"Really? Just five thousand for winning? I got more than that for finishing second at Talladega."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Not a very prestigious event, Road America."

Phineas frowned. "And here, I recall you saying you were nervous about this race."

"Yeah, I think I overreacted a little. Turns out, I'm pretty good at going left _and_ right. It's just like driving like a maniac in my Mustang on the actual road…only not driving like a maniac, not in my Mustang, and not on the road."

Phineas laughed. "Yup. Almost exactly the same thing." He glanced over his shoulder at the kitchen timer.

"So what are you up to now?" Candace asked.

"Well, we've been trying to grow a full limb. Our third attempt is in the incubator," he replied with a nod toward the machine. He reached under the table and pulled out a tray. "This was our second attempt."

The arm on the tray was the exact same tone as Buford's skin. It didn't look anything like Buford's arm, though. It was horribly disfigured, bent around at all kinds of unnatural angles. In some areas, the skin had bubbled, and there was just a large mass of tissue where the fingers should have been.

"Okay, ew…" Candace grimaced.

"What happened to it?" Steve asked.

"We aren't sure. It's got everything an arm should have: Bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels, skin, even hair. But we can't figure out why it grew like this."

"Well, at the very least you were actually able to grow something at least resembling an arm…from a DNA sample," Candace said. "I don't think that's been done before."

"I read somewhere that scientists were able to grow a human ear on the back of a rat once," Steve offered.

Candace and Phineas looked at him like he had three heads. "What?" Steve asked. The siblings looked away from him.

"You said this was try number two. What happened to try number one?" Candace pried.

"Don't ask."

"Okay, then."

The timer on the table dinged, waking up Ferb and Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

"Who?! What?! Where?! How?! Why?!" Doof yelled. "Oh…incubator is done?"

Phineas was already unlocking the door to the machine. "Yes…yes it is."

Everyone gathered around as Phineas opened the door and slid out the tray.

"Aw, man," Doof groaned.

It was definitely an arm. Unfortunately, the bones had grown right through the skin, and once again the fingers had grown together into a big amorphous blob.

Phineas slid the tray rather forcefully back into the incubator. "Damn!"

"Phineas, calm down," Candace soothed. "You'll figure it out eventually."

He clenched his fists for a moment, then sighed and let his hands go limp. "I know. We're right there! That's why it's so frustrating."

"Yup. We're getting all the right parts of the limb," Doofenshmirtz explained, "but for some reason, they don't grow naturally."

Everyone took a seat, Perry jumping up on the table next to Ferb. The three scientifically oriented people were thinking hard about the issue at hand.

"You know, maybe we've been going about this the wrong way," Doofenshmirtz said.

"What do you mean?" Phineas asked.

"Well, maybe instead of growing a whole new limb, we should just clone an existing one. Perry the Platypus, do you remember my duplicate-inator 2 from a bunch of years ago?"

Perry nodded and smiled.

"I hit you with that thing and it made duplicates of your arms, like, a dozen or so. We could use that technology, with a mirroring effect to duplicate an existing arm or leg and flip it to make one for the other side of the body."

"Yeah, but what about our friends who lost both arms or both legs?" Phineas said. "We won't have a limb to make a duplicate of."

"Oh…yeah. I, uh…I hadn't thought of that."

Perry lpwered his eyes again.

"I think what we need is something to guide the growing cells into the correct shape," Phineas said.

"We can use semi-permeable force-fields to guide the bones, tendons, and so on into place," Ferb suggested.

"Right. That would work. The only problem is the outside layer," Phineas speculated. "I mean, we can program the size and positions of the myriad of force-fields we'd need with simple ratios, but we'd need to already know the position of the epidermis."

Steve spoke up. "Sounds like you guys need life-sized molds of all our friends."

"Yeah, exactly," Phineas laughed. "But we don't have anything like that."

Candace sprang up out of her chair. "Yes we do! We have life sized molds of everyone!"

Phineas, Ferb, and Doofenshmirtz each raised an eyebrow. "We do?" Doof asked.

"Yeah! Well, I mean we have _access_ to life-sized molds of everyone." The only response was confused silence. "Don't you guys remember?" Candace asked.

Doof raised his hand. "Ooh, ooh! Are you about to have a flashback?"

"Yeah."

"Can I cue it? Please? I have a great flashback cue!"

"Whatever cranks your engine." This was also met with confused stares. "Yeah, being a crew chief has inspired me to start using racing themed expressions."

"Okay, here we go," Doof said. And then, in a sing-songy way, exclaimed "Flaaaaaaashbaaaack!"

* * *

_Eight years ago (In the episode "Doofapus.")_

_A gray mold, hinged on one side and with an interior that looked exactly like Candace stood in the middle of the yard next to a step ladder and a bucket filled with an orange liquid. _

_"Hang in there, Candace," Phineas called into the bucket._

_Then, he said to Ferb, "This mold that Buford brought over should help us put her back together."_

_Buford, Baljeet, and Isabella stood to the side behind the state of matter transfer device._

_"Tell me again why you have a life-sized mold of Candace," Baljeet inquired of Buford._

_"I've got life-sized molds of all my friends," was the answer._

_Isabella's eyes widened slightly. "I'm not so sure how I feel about that."_

* * *

"Wait, that's your entire flashback?" Doof asked, putting his hands on his hips. "That's it? You're just gonna leave us hanging?"

"Well, to be fair, Phineas and Ferb were there. They know what happened."

"But Steve and I weren't there!"

Steve shrugged. "Yeah, I don't know what happened."

"Ngrgrgrgrgr."

"Come to think of it, neither does Perry the Platypus."

Candace glared at Doofenshmirtz.

"That's a great idea, Candace!" Phineas exclaimed, his smile returning to his face.

"Wait, wait, wait," Steve said, waving his hands. "Hold up. Wouldn't those molds be, you know, eight years out of date, and therefore not be accurate representations of the contouring of our friends' post pubescent bodies?" Now it was Steve's turn to receive blank stares. "What?"

"I'm sure that Buford has made more recent molds," Phineas replied.

"Besides," Candace added, "it's crucial to the plot, so that about that about guarantees it."

Phineas turned back to Steve. "Steve, I think we're gonna need your pickup."

Steve took the keys from his pocket and twirled them on his finger. "Move out, troops! Next stop, the Van Stomm residence."

As they walked out the gate, Candace asked, "So…how do you think Buford makes those molds of everyone?"

Her inquiry was met with silence until Ferb said, "It's probably best not to question it."

* * *

About an hour later, Steve backed his old F-150 into the Flynn-Fletcher driveway, the bed stacked high with the molds of everyone who was injured back in February. At the end of the drive, he angled the truck slightly toward the gate to the backyard, and then stopped.

"Hey, I can't see anything in the rearview mirror because the molds block it. Can someone jump out and tell me how far I can back up?"

"I'm on it, Steve!" Doofenshmirtz called, and he jumped out the passenger door, running behind the truck. "Okay, come on back!"

The truck slowly continued to reverse. Doof waved Steve back. "Keep coming…a little more…a little more…a little more…keep going…keep going…a little bit more…"

The bumper of the truck crashed into the fence, rocking the old Ford to a stop. Doofenshmirtz looked down at the bumper, then at the gate. "Okay, I think that's good."

Steve put the truck in drive and pulled forward about a foot before parking and turning off the engine. He and the others climbed out and walked around to the back of the truck. "Thanks a lot, Doc," Steve quipped, quickly inspecting the back bumper.

Doof didn't respond. He just rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Steve dropped the tailgate and jumped up on it. "Alright, let's get these things out of here."

* * *

Ferb used an eyedropper to place a single drop of a special solution laced with Buford's DNA into the left arm of the Buford mold. He nodded to Phineas.

"Starting up the semi-permeable force-field grid," he replied. He flicked a newly installed switch on the side of the mold. There was a whirring sound, but nothing seemed to happen. The force-fields were invisible, after all. "We're all ready here, Dr. D! How're you doing over there?"

Doof backed away from the incubator, which he had just finished enlarging to fit the rather large molds, shut off his blow torch and raised his goggles. "Finished and ready for cell-nurturing warmth!"

"Great! Let's put 'er in!"

Phineas closed the mold and locked the clasp. He and Ferb each lifted a side of the mold and slowly guided it into the incubator. Doofenshmirtz closed the door and set the electronic lock. Ferb set the kitchen timer and left it on one of the tables.

"And now we wait," Ferb said.

Phineas looked around. "Hey…where's Steve and Candace?"

"Standing right behind you," Candace said. Steve stood right next to her, leaning against a rolling cart, looking rather bored.

Phineas jumped. "Oh. Sorry. Didn't uh…didn't see ya…standing there."

There was a few minutes of awkward silence.

"So…" Doofenshmirtz said, trying to start a conversation just to break the tension. "Who was a better spotter, me or Dr. Coconut?"

**Yeah…I got nothing to say here, so I'll just say this: In case you were wondering, Corey Lajoie is #17.**

**Shoot me a review if you have the chance.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Phineas took a nervous breath. "Ready?"

Ferb, Doofenshmirtz, Candace, Perry, and Steve gave him a reassuring smile. "We're ready," Doofenshmirtz said.

"Okay. Here goes." Phineas slid the Buford mold out of the incubator onto the top of the now empty rolling cart. He popped the locks and stared at the mold nervously for a moment. You could cut the tension in the backyard with a knife.

"Just open it already!" Doofenshmirtz finally yelled.

Phineas put a hand on the top half of the mold and swung it up on the hinges. The mold was completely empty, except for the cavity for the left arm. The limb that was contained within was a perfect representation of Buford's left arm and hand. The only difference was that the skin was very pale, as there was no blood in the veins.

Ferb switched off the force-fields. Phineas reached in and picked up the arm, slowly turning it over in his hands and examining it.

"Looks like an arm to me," Steve said.

Phineas looked at him. "But does it work like an arm?" Everyone moved around one of the tables as Phineas and Ferb set the arm, end up, onto a round metal disk with several tubes connected to it. "This device will allow us to control the arm with a computer as if it were a brain," Phineas explained. "Blood flows through these pipes and through 'smart' microtubes that will line up with the blood vessels in the arm. Then we simply input commands with the computer and electrical impulses like those a brain would send will stimulate the nerves, and in turn, the muscles, tendons, etcetera, to make the arm move."

"It never ceases to amaze me how fast you guys can make such impossibly impossible gadgets," Steve said.

"You said 'impossible' twice," Candace pointed out.

"I know what I said. Impossibly impossible."

Ferb set the final clamps that would hold the arm in place and turned on the pump under the table. Blood began flowing through the tubes from the artificial (but impractical for bodily use) heart that the boys had built and through the arm, and back out again. Ferb gave Phineas a thumbs up.

"Great! Now let's see…" Phineas punched a dozen keys on the nearby laptop. When he was done, he hit "Enter." Everyone watched the arm.

For a moment, it was still. Then, the fingers quickly curled into a fist.

"Yes!" Phineas yelled. Everyone cheered. Phineas tried a few more commands, making the arm bend at the elbow and the wrist, touch each fingertip to the thumb, and twist. "It works perfectly!"

"Except for that little bit of a delay between the time you input the command and when it actually moves," Candace said.

"That's just because the computer isn't as fast as the human brain," Phineas explained. "It'll be fine when actually attached to Buford's body."

"Speaking of which, how _do _we attach these limbs to the body once we grow them?" Doofenshmirtz asked.

Phineas put his hand on his chin. "Hmm…I hadn't thought of that. I mean, when we made the mechanical arms and legs, they were made so that they would connect right to a person's nervous system, which means that the wounds weren't closed up. If we take the mechanical limbs off, then you're just left with the open inside of the arm. We had to rerout the blood vessels, of course, so they wouldn't bleed out, but aside from that, they haven't healed at all under the bonding clamps." He stood up from his chair and took a few slow steps toward the tree, staring at the ground, deep in thought. "Now the question is…how do we connect the new organic limbs to the already existing tissue, and how do we re-reroute the blood vessels to connect to the new ones?"

Ferb and Doofenshmirtz joined him in the deep thought. Fifteen minutes of tense silence passed before Candace spoke.

"Can you grow the limbs right onto their bodies instead of trying to attach them?"

Phineas turned on his heel. "Candace, you are a genius!"

"I am? I mean, I know I am. Explain why, though."

"It's so simple! Buford goes first, because he's been our test subject all along and he's recovered the most. We shut Buford in the mold, sedated, of course, with the growth starter solution placed right on his skin where the limb should start. Then we grow it just like we did here, pop open the mold, and use a reverse semi-permeable laser to redirect and connect the blood vessels."

Doofenshmirtz looked confused at that last part. "Reverse semi-permeable laser?"

"Instead of a surface that only certain material can pass through, it's a laser that can only pass through certain things. It'll be able to pass through tissue, but not blood vessels. Then we can redirect the blood vessels non-invasively."

Doof smiled. "I like this plan. It's solid! Like a rock."

Steve shrugged and took a few slow steps toward the gate. "Okay, when the words get so big that I can't understand them and someone uses the Chevy Silverado slogan, I take that as my cue to leave. Besides, I gotta get to work rebuilding the racecar engine for the Winchester Speedway race next week."

Candace walked over to him, followed by Perry. "I'll come help. Give these boys some space to do their science."

"Okay. See you guys later," Phineas called and waved. After Steve, Candace and Perry left in Steve's truck, Phineas turned back to Ferb and Doofenshmirtz. "We're in the home stretch, guys! Let's get back to work!"

* * *

_June 24, 2015_

"Are you ready, Buford?" Phineas asked of the boy lying in the mold of himself on the ground.

"Just get on with it, Dinner Bell."

Phineas turned to Ferb. "Yup, he's ready."

Vanessa had been asked to come help since Steve and Candace were both busy working on the race car. She stood nearby, preparing to act as the anesthesiologist for Buford. The boys and Doofenshmirtz had developed a special anesthetic that would keep Buford knocked out for the duration of the time he spent in the incubator without being administered constantly.

Phineas nodded to Vanessa. "Go ahead and knock him out."

"Watch was you say, Phineas," Buford growled.

Vanessa knelt down in the grass beside Buford. She couldn't see, but behind her, Ferb was staring at her, his heart doing calisthenics. "Just relax," she soothed Buford. "You need to relax your muscles. I can't do this if you're all clenched up."

"I can't help it. I've been like this since I was born. I can't unclench my muscles."

Phineas and Ferb looked at each other. Ferb rolled his eyes and pulled a bottle of greenish liquid from his pocket. Ferb bent down next to Buford, and, struggling to hold the bottle steady (thanks his heart pounding), poured a few drops of the contents into Buford's mouth.

"Yuck! What was that?"

Ferb stood back up. "A very powerful muscle relaxer."

Buford glared. "I swear, Ferb, I'm gonna beam yoth isss..tog ooundb," he mumbled as the relaxer took effect and he lost control of the muscles in his mouth.

"Thanks, Ferb," Vanessa said, smiling at Ferb. Ferb fainted, to be caught by Doofenshmirtz. Vanessa carefully inserted a needle into Buford's shoulder and pressed the plunger. Within seconds, Buford lost consciousness.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz now stepped forward. He carefully removed the mechanical left arm from Buford's shoulder, revealing a stump ending in unhealed flesh and bone, exactly as it was when he was brought to the hospital in February, minus the bleeding.

Ferb quickly dabbed on the starter solution containing Buford's DNA onto the edge of the stump, then turned on the force field grid. Phineas closed and locked the mold. "Ready for the incubation," he announced. Doof opened the door to the incubator.

With Phineas on one side and Ferb on the other, the boys tried to lift the mold off the ground. They struggled and groaned.

"Rrrrggghhh! This thing is really heavy with Buford inside!" Phineas gasped. Dr. D and Vanessa quickly each grabbed an end and lifted with all their might. After three solid minutes of fighting against gravity, the four of them finally managed to lift the mold into the incubator and shut the door.

"Whew!" Doof gasped, wiping his brow. "Note to self: build anti-gravity devise for moving molds."

"I concur," Phineas wheezed.

Ferb fainted again.

* * *

Buford slowly sat up, his vision still a bit blurry from the pressure put on his eyelids by the mold. The others waited anxiously.

"Well, Buford?" Phineas asked. "How do you feel?"

He didn't answer right away. "Like someone hit me with an energy-depletion ray."

"Don't look at me! I didn't hit nobody with nothing!" Doofenshmirtz said defensively.

Buford's vision finally cleared. He saw his friends standing around him, and the various machinery and work stations that crowded the backyard. Finally, his eyes drifted down to the arm that extended from his left shoulder. It was perfect: No freckles, no scratches. Even the scar on his elbow from his biking accident three years ago was missing. It was like having a brand new arm…which was, after all, exactly what it was.

"Go on, Buford," Phineas urged.

Slowly, Buford raised his new arm. At first he was concentrating on it very hard, as if he thought he would have to teach himself how to use his left arm again. He quickly realized that he didn't, and twisted it around, flexing all the muscles and bending all the joints unconsciously.

"Whadya think?" Dr. Doofenshmirtz asked.

Buford examined his hand more closely, holding it out away from him. "I'd say you guys nailed it."

Ferb quickly rushed up with several medical gadgets and ran a few tests on the new arm, examining the muscles and bones for full development and the veins for proper blood flow. When he was finished, he held up his own left hand and Buford hi-fived him.

"It worked perfectly!" Phineas said, looking over Ferb's chart on which the Brit had logged his findings. "Come on, Ferb. We might as well put him right back in and regrow his leg, too."

"I don't want to go back in there," Buford said, pointing to the mold.

Vanessa, who had been standing behind him out of sight, snuck up and stuck his right arm with another dose of anesthesia. "Too bad," she said. Within a few seconds, Buford was out again.

* * *

_A few hours later…_

Candace and Steve were alone in the garage, finishing up their rebuild of the engine. Now that Steve had rebuilt this engine several times, he could completely disassemble, clean, replace the necessary parts, and reassemble the FR9 engine in under five hours, even faster with Candace lending a helping hand.

"I should really buy a new engine," Steve said as he checked the spacing on the spark plugs. "Even with rebuilds, this thing is gettin' kinda wore out. Plus, I'd really like to be able to drive my Mustang again. I miss it."

He and Candace both glanced to the far garage bay, where the black-and-yellow '70 Mustang sat, the hood raised, exposing the empty engine compartment.

"It looks so sad without an engine," Candace said.

"It's downright depressing," Steve replied.

Steve put his gap-checker back in the tool box as Candace's cell phone rang. She answered it.

"Hey, Phineas. What's up?…Uh-uh…Great!….Phineas, that's wonderful!…Uh-uh…Really? We're just finishing the rebuild, so I'll go get him right now…Okay…see you in a bit! Bye!" And she hung up.

"What's up?" Steve asked.

"Phineas said that Buford's relimbization, as he called it, went perfectly."

"Great!"

"And he said that since Jeremy has recovered the most, they'll do him next, so he asked me if I would go get Jeremy and bring him over."

Steve wiped his hands on a rag. "Cool! I'll come. I really want to see Buford's new limbs. Besides, I could use a break."

He switched off the lights and they left the garage.

**Sorry this chapter is kinda short. I skipped yesterday, so I wanted to get something posted. **

**Anyway, things are going to start happening really fast here, with really big gaps in time, so stay-tuned. I figure somewhere between three and six more chapters in this story.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_June 25, 2015_

Isabella wasn't really sleeping. She'd been fitfully trying to fall asleep for the last hour, but she just could not get comfortable in her bed. She figured it was because she'd gotten so used to the hospital bed and subsequently, the living room couch, that her bed just didn't seem comfortable anymore.

She was vaguely aware of her bedroom door creaking open, but she didn't move. "Isabella?" came the slow whisper. She could tell now that it was Phineas, and he was slowly walking into the room. "Isabella?"

Now she finally found the energy to roll over. She found him standing right next to the bed. She smiled weakly. "Hi, Phineas."

He gently smiled back. "Hi, Isabella. Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"To lose the robotic arms and leg, of course."

Isabella's smiled widened, as did her eyes. "You guys figured it out?"

"Yup. We did Buford first, because he was our test subject, then Jeremy, because he was well recovered. This morning we did Irving, and I was debating whether you had regained enough strength to handle the anesthesia to do you next."

Isabella giggled. "Do me next?"

Phineas rolled his eyes but couldn't help but grin. "Yes."

She lifted her mechanical arms out from under the blankets. "Okay. I'm ready."

Phineas pushed the blankets off of her and bent down to scoop her up. He carried her out of her bedroom and down the hall, but when he got to the living room, he turned around and sat down on the couch. "Okay, I think you're gonna have to walk the rest of the way," he groaned.

"Oh, come on, Phineas!" Isabella joked. "I thought you were stronger than that. You should be able to carry _me_."

"Nope, not today. I'm exhausted. Working hard without much sleep."

"Oh, okay." She slid off his lap onto the couch next to him. "I'm not very steady walking, though. You're gonna have to give me a little support."

"_That_ I can do."

He stood up and, with just slight hesitation, grabbed her metal right hand and pulled her to her feet. Then he put his arm across her shoulders and she put hers around his.

"Good?" Phineas asked.

"Mm-hmm."

They slowly headed for the front door.

* * *

When the timer went off, Phineas practically leapt into the air. He sprinted the four feet to the incubator and undid the electronic lock as fast as he could.

"Take it easy, Phineas!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz urged.

Phineas slid the mold out, where it hovered on the anti-grav discs Doof had built, and threw it open.

They had regrown all three of Isabella's missing limbs at the same time. She was still asleep, but the new arms and legs looked perfect. Phineas nearly cried.

After the anti-grav discs had been powered down and the mold lowered gently to the grass, Vanessa injected Isabella with an agent to bring her out of the anesthesia. In just a few minutes, Isabella had opened her eyes.

The first thing she said was, "I can't see. Everything's blurry."

Phineas was kneeling right next to her. "It'll wear off. It's just from the mold pressing against your eyelids." He reached in and slowly took Isabella's hand. She jumped in surprise.

"Phineas?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Is that you?"

He gave a gentle squeeze. "Yes."

She suddenly lifted her head and turned to face him. Her vision returned suddenly and she could see Phineas, and see his hand…clutching her hand. Her real, metal-free, flesh and blood hand.

Isabella grinned. She was about to move further when Ferb approached to run his tests. He checked for development and then asked her to move her arms and new leg around. Satisfied the growth had gone well, Ferb backed away and towed Dr. Doofenshmirtz out of the backyard. Vanessa followed.

Phineas was still holding Isabella's hand. He helped her to a sitting position. She was breathing heavily, seemingly exhausted. The anesethia hadn't worn off as quickly as it had for Buford, Jeremy and Irving.

"Want to try to stand?" Phineas asked.

Isabella nodded. "I…I think I'd like to go inside. I think I might…fall back to sleep."

Phineas helped her to her feet. She swayed drunkenly, unable to find her balance. Phineas guided her into the house. "I'll take you upstairs to my room," he said. "It'll be more comfortable than the couch."

She nodded a reply. She was going to say that she wasn't sure that she could make it up the stairs, but when both she and Phineas stepped onto the first stair tread, Phineas pressed a button hidden behind a picture frame and the stairs moved like an escalator. They were carried effortlessly to the top.

They continued down the hall to Phineas's bedroom. He guided Isabella to the bed and helped her slowly lay down. When he was ready to leave her to sleep and return to the backyard, he couldn't because she still had hold of his hand.

"Don't leave me," Isabella said weakly. "Please, Phineas…don't leave me."

Phineas grinned and kicked off his shoes. He climbed into bed and was about to wrap his arms around her when she did just that to him. Phineas had never felt so at home, so at peace. Isabella hugged him to her tightly and even intertwined her legs with his. "Don't leave me, Phineas," she said again.

Phineas hugged her back. "Don't worry. We don't ever have to be apart again."

Isabella quickly fell asleep. Phineas was fighting to stay awake, but was quite drained himself and soon surrendered to dreamland.

And when he would awaken a few hours later, he would say that it was the most restful sleep he had gotten in nearly four and a half months.

* * *

_July 19, 2015_

It was nearly a month later. Phineas, Ferb, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz had finished regrowing the limbs of their last patient, Jenny, three days ago. Two days ago, their parents had finally returned from their extended expedition to climb Mt. Everest. Just before they walked in the door, the equipment in the backyard suddenly disappeared. Phineas and Ferb introduced Linda and Lawrence to Dr. D and told them a tale of how Doofenshmirtz was a veterinarian they took Perry to and had become friends with.

"Where's Candace? Did she decide not to come home from California?" Linda had asked.

"She did. She's with Steve." Phineas told them about Steve's ARCA team, but left out the part about his own race at Talladega. "We've been helping Steve, too. There's a race tomorrow. That's why Candace isn't here. The race is in Illinois. We would have gone, but we stayed home to greet you when you got back."

"Oh, you boys are the best."

Today was the ARCA race at Chicagoland Speedway. Isabella had a party at her house to celebrate everyone's renewed health. The TV tuned to the Fox Sports 1, the gang socialized quietly, half paying attention to the race. Well, except Isabella, Buford, and Phineas, who sat on the couch, listening to the announcers with rapt attention.

"I want to go to one of these races in person," Isabella said. "I want to sit on the pitbox with Candace."

"Steve said I can be his car chief," Buford said. "I can't wait to get started."

"Is the car chief different than the crew chief?" Isabella asked.

"Yes, yes it is."

Isabella made a note of that in her little notebook.

"Why aren't you at the race today?" Phineas asked.

"Doctor told me I'm still a little too weak to travel long distances. I should be good to go by the time they head to Pocono for the second time."

"Shhh!" Isabella shushed not only Buford, but everyone else in the room. "They're talking about Steve!"

The 28 Ford appeared on the screen, circling the track. It was still painted red and green, but the decals urging people to "Donate to Stem Cell Research" had been removed, meaning the hood, side panels, decklid, and TV panel were blank.

_"Steve Marcis currently runs in the fourth position, but he might have a problem. Listen to what he said to crew chief Candace Flynn about two laps ago."_

The broadcast played a recording of the radio communication between Steve and Candace. Amid a myriad of crackles and muted engine noise, Steve's voice slipped through the TV speakers. _"I think I've got a problem…engine isn't picking up the throttle good…I think we're blowing up."_

Then they heard Candace's voice, with just slightly less static. _"Guess that's what happens when you use the same engine for three months."_

Steve replied, _"I'm actually kinda surprised it lasted this long."_

_"Alright, just go easy on it. We've still got another thirty-three laps to go."_

_"I doubt it'll last another five."_

There was a variety of curses and groans from the people in Isabella's living room.

The camera briefly switched to show a battle for sixth place, and two laps later returned to Steve. _"That engine sounded really sick the last time he drove past the grandstands here,"_ Rick said.

As Steve drove the car into turn one, a plume of smoke erupted from the race car, trailing out from under the front wheels and out the exhaust pipes. _"And there it goes."_

The cloud of smoke was so thick and dense that cars behind Steve couldn't see. Most of them skirted past with direction from their respective spotters. One car didn't.

_"Oh no!"_

Suddenly, the 28 car was spinning, the back end crumpled like an accordion. Matt Loftin's car was slow to the inside, the front end crushed.

_"Matt Loftin has run over Marcis!"_

Steve's car spun up the track and smashed into the wall with the front end first, then the driver's side door. The Fusion slid backwards along the wall until it finally came to a stop nearly on the backstretch.

_"Man, that car is totaled!"_

There was tense silence in the room, broken when Jeremy said, "Wow. I hope he's okay."

The seconds ticked by until finally, the window net on the wrecked car dropped and Steve climbed out the window onto the wall. He had already removed his helmet and put on his Ford Racing hat. Everyone cheered quietly and breathed relieved sighs.

"Well, that sure put a damper on this party," Stacy said.

* * *

When the racecar had been towed back to the garage, Steve, Candace, and Perry walked slowly around the car while the girls packed up.

"Think we can fix it?" Candace asked.

Steve looked glum. "No. It's totaled. It would cost more to fix it than to buy a new car. I don't have enough money to do either." He leaned against the bent quarter panel. "And the worst part is, now I can't even put the engine and transmission back in the Mustang. They're junk."

He stood up and retrieved a saws-all from the tool box. "Gotta cut the fenders off. Get the car to roll so we can get it back in the trailer."

Candace sighed. "So…where does that leave us?"

Steve didn't reply until he had cut off the entire right-front fender. "For now…our racing career is over."

**Yeah…I got nothing to say here.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_July 29, 2015_

Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella sat under the tree in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard.

"Well, I guess everything is back to the way it was before Valentine's Day," Phineas said. "Everyone's got their limbs back and are healthy, Steve is back to working in his garage…yup, it's about as normal as it gets around here."

"What about us? You and me?" Isabella said.

"Oh, yeah. That's changed." Phineas leaned over and gave her a kiss.

"We also know that Perry is…or used to be, anyway…a secret agent…again."

"Hm. Forgot about that, too."

"And we're friends with Dr. D and Vanessa now," Isabella pointed out.

"Yup-"

"Don't forget that everyone who was injured missed four and a half months of school, royally screwing up everyone's high school and probably college careers," Ferb added.

"Okay! Okay! I get it! It's not exactly back to normal."

They sat quietly for a while.

"I do feel kinda bad for Steve, though," Phineas spoke up again. "He was finally getting to live out his dream of being a stock car driver. Now he doesn't have enough money to buy a new race car."

"Yeah, I was looking forward to helping the team out," Isabella said glumly. "I was getting really into it."

"So was Candace. I'm surprised how interested she was in being part of the team after I raced."

More silence.

"Speaking of Candace," Isabella began, "do you remember what she said on TV after the Talladega race?"

Phineas sat up. "Yes. Sort of. Why?"

Isabella sat up too. "Are you planning on sharing your stem cell research with the world?"

"Of course. But we need to perfect it first. I mean, it's not like everybody in the world has a mold. Our method only really worked with Buford's molds." Phineas leaned back against the tree again. "We'll start working again soon. Candace got Mom to un-restrict her bank account yesterday, so we'll have plenty of 'funding' this time. Should be easy. Ferb and I are just taking a few weeks' break. We're burnt out." Ferb nodded to punctuate that thought.

"Good idea," Isabella told him. "Are you guys gonna keep working at stuff like this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, since I've know you guys, you've been able to do the most incredible, nearly impossible things without even hardly trying. You guys could probably cure diseases, or change technology as we know it," she explained.

Phineas put a hand on his chin. "You have a point." He turned to Ferb. "Isabella's right. I never really thought about it before, but you and I, we have a gift. We can do practically anything! We should really figure out a way to share our skill with the world. Now the question is…how exactly do we do that?"

Phineas didn't expect Ferb to actually have an answer to that question. But, Ferb did.

"I know how."

Phineas raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"I have a singular idea that can solve all of the problems we just discussed."

Isabella leaned forward to see Ferb better. "It really does not surprise me much that you have a plan, Ferb. Please, share."

Ferb moved over closer to Phineas and Isabella. They huddled together. "Here's what we'll do…"

* * *

_August 31, 2015_

The entire gang, including Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Vanessa, and the former Fireside Girls had gathered at the address that Phineas had given them. Phineas, Ferb, Candace, and Isabella were absent.

It was a massive warehouse-type building with a large glass vestibule. Several of them tried looking in through the windows, but they had been covered from the inside.

Finally, the front doors opened and Phineas, Ferb, Isabella and Candace appeared, the latter of the four holding Perry.

"Hello, everyone!" Phineas greeted them.

"Cut right to it, Dinner Bell," Buford said, a sneer on his face. "What're we all doin' here?"

"Come on inside and we'll show you," Phineas replied with a wave.

Everyone followed the group into the building. They stood in a tiled lobby which was absent of any decoration or anything to clue them into what this place was.

Phineas turned to the group. "For the last month, the four of us have been working on a new project. It's a project that will spawn new projects and hopefully last me and Ferb for the rest of our lives. This building is our new headquarters."

"For…what exactly?" Django asked.

Phineas led them down a wide hallway. At the end was a set of huge double doors. Phineas and Ferb each grabbed the handle of one door.

"Thanks to financial assistance from Candace, we have created a laboratory. Here, we will perfect our stem cell growth methods, and when we're done with that, we'll move on to other projects. We'll do everything from curing diseases to inventing new technology. We'll make a business out of it."

"You are just going to skip right over college?" Baljeet asked.

"Hm. Yeah, I guess we are."

Baljeet looked a bit mortified.

"Are you going to manufacture the stuff you invent yourselves?" Steve asked.

"Probably," Phineas answered.

"So…what exactly is this place?" Ginger asked. "You still haven't really told us."

Phineas looked at Ferb and they smirked at each other. Then Phineas turned back to their crowd of friends. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you-" Phineas and Ferb each pushed open one door. "-P&F Industries!"

Behind the doors was an expansive lab. The ceiling was at least two stories tall and the room was filled with equipment. The room stretched on about a hundred feet and extended all the way across the building.

The boys gave everyone a tour of the building. There wasn't much in it yet except for the new equipment for their stem cell research, leaving most of the building empty. "We've got plenty of space to expand when we're ready," Phineas explained.

The tour ended back in the lobby. "Dr. D?" Phineas called out, seeking out the scientist.

"Yes, I'm over here!"

The brothers made their way over to Doofenshmirtz while Isabella discreetly slipped away into an elevator on the far end of the lobby.

"We were hoping, Dr. D, that you would come work with us," Phineas explained.

"Really?"

"Yup. And, since we'll actually be able to make money now, we'll pay you. We'll pay you well."

"Wow. Like a real job doing science…I…I don't know what to say."

"You too, Baljeet," Phineas said, finding the Indian teen behind him. "We could use your infinite knowledge of everything."

"I-I-I…" Baljeet was surprised and had no idea what to say. "I would be honored. But…"

"We kinda figured you'd still want to go to college. When you graduate, perhaps."

Ferb cleared his throat. "We figure it'll take you about two years to get your doctorate."

"What do you guys say?" Phineas asked them both.

"I'm in!" Doofenshmirtz said excitedly. "I'm gonna need something to occupy my time now that I'm done with evil."

"I second that!" Baljeet cried. "As soon as I have finished school."

"Great! We look forward to having you."

When the tour was over and everyone was leaving, Phineas asked Candace and Steve to follow him and Ferb. Candace, who had been in on this nearly from the beginning, had no idea what was going on. The boys led them to the elevator that Isabella had slipped away in earlier and they traveled up to the top floor. Phineas and Ferb pushed open a pair of doors and entered a huge office. The entire back wall behind the desk was windows. Candace let Perry jump down to the floor.

"Nice office," Steve said.

"It'll look better decorated, but that isn't really important at the moment," Phineas told him.

Ferb closed the doors behind them. The chair behind the desk rotated around, revealing Isabella. "I suppose you're wondering why we called you here this afternoon," Isabella said dramatically.

Steve and Candace looked at each other, suddenly slightly scared. Candace answered, "Yeah, a little bit."

Isabella laughed. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist making a dramatic entrance." She stood and joined everyone else on the other side of the desk.

"There is a reason why we brought you up here," Phineas said. "We have a proposition to make for you, and we want to know if you two are interested."

Candace was wondering what in the world could possibly involve both herself and Steve, and she couldn't think of anything.

"Okay, hit me," Steve said before Candace could think of anything else to say.

Phineas moved over to sit behind the desk. "Here's the thing. If this business works out, we're probably going to have more money than we know what to do with. Obviously, we aren't going to charge an arm and a leg for our products and methods, but we'll still make a profit. And considering the things we plan on inventing, even with a relatively small profit margin, there should be such a demand for these things that we'll still make a ton of money."

"Okay…" Candace said questioningly. Steve and Candace looked at each other blankly.

"Anyway, by our calculations and estimations, it'll be more money than we'll ever be able to spend in our lifetimes…probably ten lifetimes-"

"Good Lord!" Steve interrupted. "That's a lot of money."

"Yes, yes it is. And we want to share it with our friends. The first thing we want to do is pay Candace back everything she loaned us to get this lab up and running."

Phineas stood and walked around to the other side of the desk and stood right in front of Steve. "Before I tell you the second thing we want to do, I need to ask you a question."

"Okay."

"Is stock car racing you're life's ambition? Is that what you want to spend the rest of your life doing?"

Steve was a bit confused and didn't answer right away. That question seemed to come out of no where. "Yes…that's what I've always wanted to do. More than anything."

Phineas turned to Candace. "And you were really enjoying being a crew chief?"

"Yes…"

Phineas walked back around the desk and took his seat again. "When we've been up and running long enough and have made enough money, we are going to start a NASCAR Sprint Cup team."

Steve's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Really?"

"Yes. We want to be part of the team, too. But, since we'll be kind of busy working here, we're going to buy the team so we can be on the roster as the team owners and leave you two in charge."

Steve and Candace both jumped. "You guys are the best!" Candace exclaimed.

"Yeah, you really are!"

Phineas continued. "And we'll do you one better: We'll sponsor the car, too."

Steve and Candace hi-fived. "This is gonna be awesome!" Steve cried. "I can't tell you guys how thankful I am."

"Don't mention it," Phineas said with a wave. "Besides, we figure that, since just about everyone's school careers were messed up from being in the hospital for so long, and since some of them, like Buford and Jeremy, expressed interest in working on the team, and some of the others have been on your ARCA team, that we could employ them on your race team and they could all have stable, good paying jobs."

"I'll tell you what," Steve said, "for us not really having any experience and running on a shoestring operation, our little ARCA team worked really well."

"It sure did," Candace agreed. "And it would be awesome to get to work with all of our friends every day."

Phineas rejoined the others. "We'll let you know when we're ready to get started."

Steve grabbed Phineas and Ferb and pulled them into a crushing bear hug. "You guys are the best friends a guy could have!"

"Steve…you're…crushing us!"

**Okay, here's the thing: I've kinda lost a little bit of interest in this story and the series isn't super popular. I have plans to write more for P&F Industries, but I think I need to take a break from this. Like, a loooong break. I want to write more short stories. Also, I'm starting college in a few days and don't know how often I'll be able to write.**

**So here's what's going to happen: This story is going to get cut a bit shorter than I wanted it to be. There will be one more chapter to kind of close the story for now and I'll pick it up again with P&F Industries #10 at a later date.**

**Look for the next chapter tomorrow. (Hopefully. If not, by Monday.)**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Looking for a Road (Theme from DALE)_**** belongs to Brent Keith.**

Chapter 10

_Ten months later…_

_June 8, 2016_

The Danville Fairgrounds had been completely transformed by Phineas and Ferb into a beautiful plaza for Candace and Jeremy's wedding reception. They'd built a stage for the band, a huge covered pavilion for the guests to eat under, and a beautiful dance floor made in a checkerboard pattern with Maple and Cedar wood.

The entire wedding party had already congregated at the Fairgrounds and were awaiting the arrival of the bride and groom, who had stopped with their photographer, Irving, in Danville park.

Eventually, the black stretch limousine pulled into the Fairgrounds parking lot. Steve climbed from the driver's seat, dressed in his tuxedo but still sporting his Ford Racing hat and sunglasses, and walked back to open the door for the bride and groom.

"I don't know how you guys talked me into this," Steve said as Jeremy climbed out and pulled Candace after him.

Candace laughed. "I wasn't putting my life in the hands of some guy hired by the limo company."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Yeah, 'cause you're _so _much safer with me behind the wheel."

* * *

"Vanessa?"

Vanessa looked for the source of the voice and found Ferb standing next to her. She had to admit, he looked quite spiffy in his tuxedo. She smiled. "What's up, Ferb?"

Ferb tugged at his collar. "Um…would you care to dance? You know…with me? Maybe?"

Vanessa laughed lightly as Ferb stumbled over his words. "I'd love to dance with you."

She rose to her feet and took Ferb by the hand. Ferb about fainted at the touch, but he managed to keep his consciousness. He let Vanessa lead him out onto the dance floor.

Meanwhile, Phineas and Isabella had made their way over to the where Candace and Jeremy were sitting at their own private table.

"Hey, guys," Jeremy greeted them.

"Hey, Jeremy. Hey, sis."

"Hi!"

"We just wanted to come over and give our personal congratulations," Isabella said.

"Thanks!" Candace replied. She seemed rather giddy.

"It's going to be really hard to get used to addressing you as 'Candace Johnson,'" Phineas said.

"For me, too," Candace said.

Suddenly, everyone looked out across the fairgrounds. There was a car bouncing across the field toward the reception party. Guests parted like the red sea as the car drove right up to the pavilion toward where the bride and groom's table was. Jeremy stood and took Candace's hand, and Phineas took Isabella's, and the four of them walked down the few steps to the ground as the car drove up.

It was a 1965 Ford Thunderbird coupe, painted a simple silvery gray. Steve switched off the ignition and hopped out of the driver's seat. He began walking toward the two couples.

"Nice! New car, Steve?" Jeremy asked.

"Nope." Steve said nonchalantly. He tossed the keys through the air mid-stride and Jeremy caught them. "_Your _new car. Happy wedding."

The song the band was playing came to a close and Ferb twirled Vanessa around before pulling her back to him.

"You are quite the dancer, Ferb," Vanessa said with a smile.

Ferb didn't answer. He had frozen up looking into Vanessa's eyes.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa asked.

Ferb suddenly lunged forward into Vanessa's lips. Her eyes widened at first, but then she slowly closed them and leaned into the kiss.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz was watching them from across the pavilion, a stupid dreamy look on his face. "Awwww…that's so sweet. Wait! _What?!_"

* * *

Everyone waved to the newly wed couple as Jeremy drove the Thunderbird out of the Fairgrounds. It had taken Phineas and Ferb all of thirty seconds to find a dozen cans and string them from the back bumper. Isabella made a "JUST MARRIED" sign on a piece of cardboard from the cake box and placed it in the back window.

As they drove out of sight, Isabella said, "So Steve, what kind of car are you going to restore for me and Phineas when we get married?"

Steve raised an eyebrow. "I already built you a Barracuda, practically from scratch, and Phineas has his Chevelle."

"What if Ferb wants the Chevelle?" Phineas asked. "We share it, you know."

Steve threw up his arms in disgust. "When you two get engaged, I'll let you know."

Isabella grinned slyly at Phineas. "Oh, Phineas…"

"Isabella, we aren't even twenty years old yet," Phineas reminded her. "We'll get there, soon. I promise. It'll be sooner than you think."

Isabella pouted playfully. She kicked at a stone on the ground and folded her arms. "Fine." Then she gave Phineas a kiss.

* * *

_Four and a half-ish months later…_

_September 25, 2016_

"TV?" Steve looked behind him. There was a little rolling cart with a 20" flat screen on it. It was tuned to the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover. "Check. Tools?" The rolling tool box stood open next to him. "Check. Power?" Extension cords ran rampant around the floor, waiting to be used. "Check." He finally faced forward again. "1970 Plymouth Superbird frame?"

The unfinished frame had been sitting against the far wall in the garage for over two years now, collecting dust. After all this time, Steve had finally done enough work restoring and selling cars that he had revived his bank account to what it was prior to March 2014, and he had enough cash in reserve that he could finally afford to finish the Superbird.

"Check. Okay, Superbird. Prepare to be finished."

Steve selected a wrench from the tool box and was just about to start when his cell phone rang. He pulled his phone and the TV remote from his pocket, muted the TV, and answered the phone.

"Go for Steve," he answered.

_"It's time," _a familiar heavy British accent said.

Steve blinked. "'Sceuse me?"

_"It's time."_

"It's time? It's time? It's time! YES! I'll be there in twenty minutes!"

Steve hung up. "WHOO HOO!"

He glanced at the Superbird frame. "Sorry, buddy. Looks like it's gonna be a little longer before you're finished."

Steve quickly grabbed his truck keys and rushed for the door.

* * *

_Several more months later…_

_January 23, 2017_

Since September, Steve and Candace had been working non-stop, recruiting their team and buying equipment. While Phineas and Ferb searched for a suitable building to house the race shop, Steve and Candace purchased a brand-new race-ready car from Roush-Fenway Racing. Steve, Buford, and Adyson, who had been designated as the general manager of Monotreme Motorsports, took the car completely apart down to the last bolt and reassembled it to learn the components inside and out. Everything, that is, except for the engine.

"What can I do?" Isabella had asked. "I want to do something where I can get my hands dirty!"

"Well," Candace said, "I think the only parts of the car that we aren't going to make ourselves are the engines and transmissions."

"Yeah, we're going to lease them from Roush-Yates. Unless, of course…" Steve said, uncertainty in his voice.

"I could be the engine builder!" Isabella had exclaimed excitedly.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "How familiar are you with the mechanics of internal combustion V8 engines?"

Isabella waved her hand. "Pfft. Are you kidding? All Fireside Girls are trained in engine mechanics."

"So if I gave you the plans for the FR9 engine, you could build one?"

"Piece of cake. In fact, I'll bet in a couple of months' time, I'll be able to start cranking out engines with more horsepower than Roush."

Steve and Candace looked at each other, then back at Isabella. "You're hired," they said in unison.

Adyson and Buford, who was assigned the at-track position of car chief, began directing the in-house crew in the building of new race cars. Everything except the body panels, which were made by Ford, was scratch built in in the shop. The Cup Ford Fusions were much different than the ARCA late model Fusions, looking much more like the street version the race car was based on. Between late October and today, they built seven brand new race cars: one restrictor plate car, one road course car, two short track and three speedway cars.

Isabella built the engines for all of them. She actually built eleven engines in total. Of the four extras, two would go with them to preseason thunder testing in Daytona, and one was the designated backup engine for the Sprint Unlimited preseason event the week before the Daytona 500. The last one, the very first one she built, seemingly disappeared…

Perry resigned from his position as the front rear tire changer. It was for the best. He was getting old and it was torture on his knees. Vanessa called it quits, too. She had studied medicine in college and was going to join Phineas and Ferb and her father at P&F Industries. Jeremy gladly volunteered to change the front, and Coltrane the rear. Gretchen, Katie, Holly and Milly withheld their jobs on the pit crew. Not that they had much of a choice. "You girls are so fast," Steve told them, "I'm not sure what I'd do without you. I won't let you leave."

The hauler came from International. Jeremy and Coltrane volunteered to drive the truck since they would have to be at the track every week, anyway. They could share the long driving distances to far away tracks like Sonoma and Phoenix.

The trailer was massive, big enough to hold two race cars, enough spare parts to build almost another entire car, and all the tools, computers, and various other equipment the team needed. This included a brand new war wagon, almost twice the size of the old one.

Django was the designated paint scheme designer and car painter. The paint scheme was pretty much exactly the same as the ARCA car, red transitioning to green, with a few extra accent lines on the bumpers. The hood and side panels boasted the P&F Industries logo, and thanks to some connections and persuasion from Phineas and Ferb, Totally Tools held space on the deck lid. (Totally Tools had bought the primary sponsorship for the entire car for both races at Martinsville and the June race at New Hampshire. Django was working with Public Relations for Totally Tools on a special paint scheme for those races.)

On this particular morning, before the sun had even crested the horizon, the team was leaving for Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona: A three day practice session where teams are free to do anything they desire to prepare for the upcoming season. Most of the team had already left for the airport in Katie's van. Steve had insisted on driving to Daytona on his own and asked Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Perry, and Candace to join him.

The five people and the platypus had just left the Monotreme Motorsports race shop, where they had seen Jeremy, Coltrane and the hauler off. It was on the opposite side of Danville from the P&F Inc. headquarters, for it was the only building in the area big enough the boys could find. Now, they had reconvened at Steve's old garage/apartment.

"What are we going in, Steve?" Phineas asked. "Your truck only has three seats, so I know it's not that. Are we taking the Galaxy?"

"Nope. We're going in the Mustang, of course."

"But…your Mustang doesn't have an engine."

Steve smiled at Phineas, a twinkle in his eye. "Doesn't it?" He opened the big overhead garage door, revealing the Mustang, freshly washed and waxed. The metallic black paint sparkled in the first rays of the early morning sun and the 17's adorning the doors and windows stood out brightly. He quickly pulled the hood pins out and raised the hood.

Everyone gathered around. Sure enough, there was an engine. It looked just like the original Roush/Yates power plant that had been in Mustang before. But there was something slightly different about it that the boys couldn't place.

"Is this the one that came in the race car you bought from Roush?" Phineas asked.

"No it is not," Steve said matter-of-factly. "This engine came out of our very own engine shop." The Flynn-Fletcher siblings each widened their eyes in surprise. Isabella blushed. "You are looking at the very first Isabuilt Ford engine."

"Isabuilt?" Candace laughed.

"Yeah. Isabella built. Isabuilt. I think it sounds tough. Like…durabuilt. Except, not…that…exact…name. I'm gonna stop talking now."

Phineas put his arm around Isabella. "I'm so proud of you, Isabella. You've become just as mechanically inclined as me and Ferb. I can tell just by looking at it that you did a good job."

"Thank you, Phineas. That means a lot coming from you."

"You always were good with tools. Did you have fun building it?"

"Yup! And you know, I think I spotted some flaws in the designs of the FR9. There's horsepower to gained! I think by the time we return to Daytona in July, I can out-power the Hendrick engines!"

Steve opened the driver's door and climbed in, key in hand. He disengaged the muffler and started the engine. Everyone covered their ears as he revved the engine. "Purrs like a kitten!" he yelled.

They all loaded their personal affects into the trunk and piled in. Ferb took the passenger seat, for he was the tallest of anyone. Candace sat behind Steve, Isabella took the middle, and Phineas sat behind Ferb. Perry jumped up on the dashboard.

Steve revved the engine and threw it into gear. He held the brake about halfway and did a slow burnout out of the garage. He returned to close the overhead door, then jumped back into the car and drifted the car in a cloud of smoke onto the main road.

"Hey, Phineas," Isabella said, smiling broadly. "This spot, right here, in the back of this car, is where I first told you I love you."

Phineas laughed. "Accidentally, as I recall." He put his arm around her, and she did the same. "But look at where we are now. Who would have guessed that because Candace entered her Neblington Nymph in a car show almost three years ago, that we would end up as part of a NASCAR Sprint Cup team?"

"I definitely wouldn't have guessed it," Candace said.

"Me neither," Ferb agreed.

"Three years ago, I never would have guessed that I'd actually have friends, let alone become a race car driver," Steve added.

Phineas and Isabella kissed while the Mustang roared as Steve accelerated up the ramp onto the highway. The sun was just peaking over the trees on the horizon and the sky was a beautiful shade of muted orange. Steve held steady at 81mph and steered with one hand.

"You know, I think this is the perfect moment for a spontaneous musical number," Candace suggested. "We're starting a new chapter in our lives, it's a beautiful early morning…"

"Candace, it can't be spontaneous if you suggest it!" Isabella laughed.

"Yeah!" Phineas said, "But I think you're right, Candace. We're overdue. We should sing something."

"Ooh! Let's do one of those scenes where people who aren't in our general vicinity are part of the number, too, even though they shouldn't really be able to know what we're doing!" Isabella said.

Ferb started strumming his guitar, a nice slow melody.

"Where do you keep that thing?" Steve asked. "That's the second time I've seen you pull that guitar out of thin air."

"I'll never tell."

Phineas joined in with a second guitar, slightly cramped in the backseat.

"You too?" Steve questioned.

"Just go with it," Phineas shrugged.

"I think you should start, Steve," Isabella suggested. "We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and your Mustang."

Steve thought about it for a moment. He did not consider himself to be a good singer. "Alright, I'll try." He waited for his cue and began to sing. _"I'm lookin' for a road…might be dirt, it might be gravel…I'm lookin for a road…only I'm supposed to travel…might be right around the corner, might be a thousand miles to go…but I'm gonna keep on lookin' for that road."_

Isabella picked up the next part. _"I'm lookin' for a sky…where I can see forever…I'm lookin' for a sky…that leads straight up to Heaven…I'm gonna climb up every mountain 'till my soul begins to fly! Yes I'm gonna keep on lookin' for that sky."_

Candace belted out the chorus._ "And I know it won't be easy…and I know it won't be long…with every step I'm getting closer…to the place where I belong…"_

Phineas sang the third verse. _"I'm lookin' for a love…that's stronger than Jibralta-"_

Ferb quickly stopped playing, so Phineas did, too.

"What?" Isabella asked.

"What 'what'?"

"What the heck is Jibralta?"

"I have no idea. Ask Brent Keith. I didn't write the lyrics. That's the only interpretation of the lyrics anywhere online. I think only he knows what that word is."

Isabella didn't reply.

"Can we go on now?"

"Sure."

_"I'm lookin' for a love…that never sleeps, it never falters. I might get knocked down, turned around, but I'm…not giving up! Yes I'm gonna keep on lookin' for that love."_

Conveniently, there was a short break in the lyrics here. Steve pointed out the windshield. "Hey, look!"

Just ahead was the hauler, painted red and green to match the race car. They had caught up to it in no time flat. Everyone waved to Jeremy and Coltrane as they passed.

_"And I know it won't be easy!" _Jeremy sang.

_"God knows it won't be long!" _Coltrane sang back.

Then they harmonized for _"With every step I'm getting closer…to the place where I belong…"_

Thirty-thousand feet in the air on a Boeing 777 , the rest of the gang was inexplicably aware of the musical number going on far below them.

Adyson: _"I'm lookin' for a road…"_

Katie: _"Might be dirt, it might be gravel."_

Gretchen: _"I'm lookin' for a road…"_

Milly: _"Only I'm supposed to travel."_

Ginger: _"Might be right around the corner…" _

Holly: _"Might be a thousand miles to go…"_

Buford and Baljeet: _"But I'm gonna keep on lookin' for that road."_

Dr. Doofenshmirtz joined in, as well. _"It'll take me to a place-"_

Vanessa finished the line. _"Where I can lighten up my load-"_

Everyone on the ground and in the sky chorused together. _"So I'm gonna keep on lookin' for that…"_

_"Road…"_

Steve finished.

"Ngrgrgrgrgr."

Everyone in the Mustang laughed as Phineas and Ferb played out the remainder of the song.

_"Lookin' for that road!"_

**For those few of you who have followed this series, I thank you for your support. I know the subjects I focus on aren't for everyone. Thank you all for your kind words and I hope you will continue to read when I start P&F Industries #10 (For which, I do not yet have a title.) **

**It may begin sooner than I let on in the last author's note because it isn't going to be a true "story." Each chapter will be it's own little story, so it should be easier to update. I still plan on taking a break from this series for a little while, especially since I am starting college in four days. I will continue to write other fanfics when I can, but no promises on how often until I see how busy I'm going to be.**

**I'm sorry that this last chapter was a bit rushed and perhaps a little "infodumpy" but I rushed a bit to get it done. I apologize for the plot holes created when Ferb and Vanessa kiss and Doofenshmirtz reacts to that kiss, but I just couldn't come up with anything to tie that up in this story. (That will be something for the next story.) I just didn't want to ignore the plot line I started with the two of them in the last story and wanted to go somewhere with it before I closed the series for a while. Also, I seriously have no idea what the heck that one word is in ****_Looking for a Road_****. I took my best guess.**

**Once again, thank you to my few readers who have read the entire series. I'd thank you all individually (I think there's about 17-20 of you) but I don't know who all of you are.**

**So, until next time,**

**EDD17SP**


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